Acceptance
by ChimeraStorm
Summary: Cullen finds something he never thought he would in the arms of the Inquisitor.


**ACCEPTANCE**  
>A Dragon Age One Shot<br>Cullen x Trevelyan  
>I do not own Dragon Age or its characters!<br>I'm just playing with them for a bit – I'll put them back, mostly unharmed.

Written for a prompt from the lovely fenharels-heart on Tumblr - thanks sweetie!

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><p>She finds me in a rare moment of quiet contemplation as I stand on the battlements near my office; face turned up to the sun, eyes closed as the gentle breeze ruffles the fur around my shoulders.<p>

Her hand touches my arm, tentative and warm; her eyes filled with the same concern that laces her voice as she asks how I am.

"I am better, thank you," I allow my lip to quirk up a little and am rewarded by one of her rare smiles as she moves closer to me.

"Good, I'm glad to hear it," she responds and loops her arm through mine, squeezing slightly before moving away.

I hover on the edges of what I want to do versus what is appropriate for where we are. Want wins out and I pull her to stand in front of me as I wrap my arms around her waist and kiss the top of her head. She sighs happily, one hand clasping mine and her other arm snaking up so her hand curls around the back of my neck; fingertips stroking my hair gently.

This, I think, is what inner peace must feel like.  
>I take a breath, inhaling her scent – earthy and citrusy, like the herbs she so carefully tends to in the chantry garden and the wonderfully lightly scented soap she uses.<p>

Her head tilts back, her lips grazing over my jaw and I tilt my head down to meet her kiss and for one glorious moment everything fades away into nothing as my lips capture hers – the effects of the lyrium withdrawal, the headache that had been niggling at my temples all morning; the amount of paperwork on my desk, the new recruits that need training; my outburst the previous day… All of it shifts into insignificance as she turns in my arms, tugging at the fur on my cloak to bring me closer; deepening the kiss, one of my arms tightening around her waist as my other hand reaches up to cup her beautiful face.

After a while we part and she smiles somewhat bashfully; my own awkward shyness reflected, I suspect.

"Definitely feeling better," I rumble and she huffs out a breathless laugh, slender fingers stroking my jaw and my cheeks; a gesture I return with a chaste kiss to each fingertip.

"Thank you," I begin, a little tentatively; "for listening yesterday. I think I had pushed myself too far too quickly and it… was not my best decision."  
>"I'm here for you," she replies, her voice soft and earnest, "<em>always<em>."

The addition of that word makes my heart trip slightly, "but how? You've seen the worst in me, what the lyrium withdrawal is doing to me; to my mind, my…My body. I would not blame you for wanting to keep your distance."

She sighs quietly and I tense, preparing for what I thought was the inevitable agreement to my insecurities and I am more than pleasantly surprised when she takes my face in her hands and presses a kiss to the scarred part of my mouth.

"It's _because_ of all of that that I care for you and yesterday, when you told me everything you'd gone through; everything you'd seen and fought through I felt something change – for the better. The fact that you trusted me to tell me all of that was wonderful and you need to know that I will do everything in my power to help you through this. Whatever you need, Cullen, just tell me. I care about you, very deeply so and you have done _nothing_ to change that."

I step forward, my fingers closing around her wrists, "all I need right at this moment, is you."

She lets out a breath and her beautiful eyes meet mine, sparkling like crystals in the sunlight; warm, bright and looking at me with a tenderness that is almost heartbreaking and, as she smiles I see something I never thought I would be lucky enough to see in another person's eyes; something that makes my breath hitch and my heart stutter.

Here, in this moment; with this beautiful, courageous woman holding me as though I am the most precious thing in the world to her, I have found the one thing I thought I would never find.

I have found acceptance.


End file.
